When confidence is detrimental: Influence of overconfidence on leadership effectiveness

Confident leaders are seen as competent and capable by others. However, excessive amounts of confidence may be detrimental to a leader's performance. The purpose of the current study was to identify indicators of overconfidence and examine the influence that overconfidence has on certain kinds of leader performance. Results indicated two elements of overconfidence: seeing deficiencies and expectations of positive outcomes. Low levels of confidence associated with seeing many deficiencies, is beneficial to performance in leader planning and vision formation. However, high levels of confidence associated with expectations of positive outcomes, are related to effective vision statements. Implications for results are discussed.